Percy Tau felt that Mamelodi Sundowns gave a better performance than the scoreline reflected against the impressive stifling football of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the Brazilians' 4-1 defeat at the Fifa Club World Cup yesterday.
Sundowns bowed out of the Cup in sixth place having received a lesson in efficiency and quickness of thinking from the Asian champions from South Korea in the fifth-place playoff at Suita City Football Stadium.
Disappointingly, Sundowns conceded four soft goals.
Coming back from the break 3-0 down, Downs improved markedly after Tau scored a candidate for goal of the tournament in the 48th minute.
"The scoreline doesn't give a true reflection - we tried our best and we did a lot of things better than the previous game," Tau said afterwards.
"It was a good game. I think they hit us with the things we expected.
"But it's OK. It was our first time here and we'll come back stronger. If we play them again we'll beat them. It's a process and we'll get better."
Tau, 22, was singled out by his coach, Pitso Mosimane, as having displayed that he had the ability to compete on any stage.
"It's good for a player to get good remarks from a coach. And I'm still where I'm trying to learn a few things, and I want to get better," Tau said.
"And for me to be here at 22 is good also.
"Just over a year ago I was at Witbank Spurs not thinking of this moment. Because I was in the NFD [National First Division] - you can't be in the NFD and think about the Champions League or Club World Cup. First you have to go to the PSL.
"When I came back to Sundowns from loan at Spurs that's when I thought, 'OK, now I can live my dream'.
"Now it's happening and I'm glad to be here."
What the club world cup has shown Sundowns is that even for Japan and Korea, while their sides may have nowhere near the Downs players' natural ability, the level of competition and level of organisation of the teams in their leagues must be of some standard.
lStrydom was in Japan as a guest of Sundowns.
Tau's star shines amid Downs gloom
Percy Tau felt that Mamelodi Sundowns gave a better performance than the scoreline reflected against the impressive stifling football of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the Brazilians' 4-1 defeat at the Fifa Club World Cup yesterday.
Sundowns bowed out of the Cup in sixth place having received a lesson in efficiency and quickness of thinking from the Asian champions from South Korea in the fifth-place playoff at Suita City Football Stadium.
Disappointingly, Sundowns conceded four soft goals.
Coming back from the break 3-0 down, Downs improved markedly after Tau scored a candidate for goal of the tournament in the 48th minute.
"The scoreline doesn't give a true reflection - we tried our best and we did a lot of things better than the previous game," Tau said afterwards.
"It was a good game. I think they hit us with the things we expected.
"But it's OK. It was our first time here and we'll come back stronger. If we play them again we'll beat them. It's a process and we'll get better."
Tau, 22, was singled out by his coach, Pitso Mosimane, as having displayed that he had the ability to compete on any stage.
"It's good for a player to get good remarks from a coach. And I'm still where I'm trying to learn a few things, and I want to get better," Tau said.
"And for me to be here at 22 is good also.
"Just over a year ago I was at Witbank Spurs not thinking of this moment. Because I was in the NFD [National First Division] - you can't be in the NFD and think about the Champions League or Club World Cup. First you have to go to the PSL.
"When I came back to Sundowns from loan at Spurs that's when I thought, 'OK, now I can live my dream'.
"Now it's happening and I'm glad to be here."
What the club world cup has shown Sundowns is that even for Japan and Korea, while their sides may have nowhere near the Downs players' natural ability, the level of competition and level of organisation of the teams in their leagues must be of some standard.
lStrydom was in Japan as a guest of Sundowns.
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